COACH Paul Wellens is looking for a big response from his players on Friday after the manner of Saints’ Challenge Cup exit rocked all connected with the club, on both sides of the fence.

Wellens accused his players of giving up, after being out-enthused and out-played by Warrington in an error-strewn performance.

The coach has laid down the law in the aftermath – with a tough review and plenty of soul searching – and a demand that things are put right, starting with Friday’s Super League clash against struggling Hull FC.

And he has made it clear to his highly decorated four-in-a-row squad that past glories count for nothing and in an increasingly competitive top end of Super League, there is no scope for resting on laurels.

Wellens said: “I have had to be very blunt with the group this week in terms how we’re going to approach things going forward.

“They are a good group of players who are honest and a lot have been hugely influential in terms of success the team has had in recent years.

"But what we’ve got to quickly realise as a group is the fact that we’ve won competitions in the last four or five years counts for nothing anymore.

“You have got to want to go out there and achieve more and do more, and that’s what we’ve always prided ourselves in as a club.

“Do we look back on our successes with fond memories? Of course. But at the same time we have got to get our heads in what is next because if you sit there and reminisce then the opportunity you have now in front of you passes you by.”

Frustration has been evident across the board, particularly on the terraces where fans were baffled by a side that for large parts of the game seemed lost for ideas and then panicked.

But as has been the case in previous weeks, the core issue was their inability to retain the ball for long enough to build pressure to ask questions of a Wolves defence.

Leaving aside the abnormal chinks in the Saints defensive armour, the more Saints chased the game, the more a vicious circle of pushed passes, offloads that were not on and ill-thought out last tackle plays reared their heads.

That has left Wellens and his coaching team with plenty to examine and prioritise ahead of Friday’s home game where Saints will be on a hiding to nothing.

Wellens said: “It has been an extremely tough couple of days for everybody reflecting on not just the result but the manner of the result.

“We know we fell way below the standards we expect and I have got to take responsibility for that and ensure that we rectify that very quickly, and that is what we are working hard to do.

“That’s the challenge for the players, as an individual, you’ve got to have pride in your performance and pride in what you do.

“We did not have many at the weekend who lived up to expectations.

“I would expect the individuals within that team to respond in the appropriate way.

“Defensively we conceded some very uncharacteristic tries and the most disappointing thing around that was a lot of the poor stuff we did came down to a lack of energy and intensity.

“We contributed to that in terms of how much possession we coughed up but at the same time when you’re out-enthused by your local rival, at home, in a Challenge Cup quarter final that is something that can’t sit well with you and it does not sit well with me.

“It just became a vicious cycle that we could not get out of and as I said after the game, I was really disappointed by the amount of errors we made and the amount of defence we made ourselves do.

“There was a mindset that we wanted things a little easier and the longer the game went on the worse things got.

“It was a cup game and the most important thing is the result but in the past we’ve lost games because we haven’t quite got something right, we have leaked one try or haven’t got the bounce of the ball.

“But what we did at the weekend was it seemed like we give in that that’s very uncharacteristic. That’s very not like this team and that’s something I’m very keen to not see happen again.”

So Saints attention now turns to Hull FC, with the Black and Whites experiencing changes on and off the field with coach Smith’s departure coming with the club winning just one game this season.

Departing at the same time are players Nu Brown and Tex Hoy, but Hull do have a large crop of homegrown Academy products in the ranks to fall back on – and they will bring an enthusiasm that cannot be taken for granted.

Wellens said: “There is no pressure on Hull this week – but they have obviously had a bit of disruption with changing the coach, and obviously a few players have left as well.

“But I think what you get off the back of that is they are going to have a young, enthusiastic team, with probably a lot of Hull fans in there who when they pull the shirt on will do all they can to impress.

“So the challenge for us is there. What we got on Sunday was out-enthused at home in a cup tie and we can’t allow that to happen again.”